Pregame activities
They have pregame festivities setup called the "Alley" which was pretty cool.
Right next to an airport so planes are constantly flying over the stadium.
They had navy parachute jump team skydive into the stadium along with a C130 flyover which was super awesome. My son wants to go into the military and he flat loved it!
The stadium:
First time up to the "Ville" as they call it and I was not impressed. I'm an attitude guy and enjoy the feistiness that comes with road trips so we gave it as good as we get it. Their PA guy is an excitable fella to say the least. Their piped in music reminds me of Miami. They have an inferiority complex to Kensucky...that is for sure. Their fan base has Alabama attitude with a Vanderbilt trophy case.
That stupid "L" being flashed all the time as my son and I kept woofing back...Way to represent Losers!
The game:
Let me start out by saying this. We were the better team that day. Our mistakes and play calling gaffes allowed the Ville to stay in the game at least from my perspective sitting in Sect 304.
I get that Haynes King was trying to make a play so I feel he gets a pass but the punt returner fielding the punt on the 5 yard line vs letting it go is what caused that to happen imo.
The constant inside run on 2nd, 3rd, and short was baffling to me with Louisville loading the box and flat out daring us to beat them over the top. I felt like CBK had Sandra Bullock in his head from "the blind side" to RUN THE DANG BAWL, BUSTER". Our pass protection was fine and given time, Haynes made some bad and good throws but the key was our wr's and te's were open (especially #9 Boyd- I think he could've had a HUGE game).
The inside run, jet sweeps, and qb draws just were covered up most of the game but we kept trying to force it. I may have completely overestimated the OL as I simply cannot believe we cannot just one freaking yard multiple times when we needed it the most. As a side note, louisville hit Haynes hard multiple times. Can we not call his # on the qb draw that often???? Kid is gonna get hurt and we need him the most.
Birr really struggles from the right hash so anything over 40+ from the right hash, please GO FOR IT!
Up until the blocked fg kick, I felt we were going to win. Same thing last year at MBS against Louisville when they had that 60-yard rb sprint for a td in the 4th after we lead in the 4th 28-13.
We are simply that close to being 5-0. Yes, Saturday sucks and I'm still ticked off that I drove 14 hours for that, but this team can, and I believe will win 7 games. Even after the fsu win, i never felt we could compete for acc championship and that seems to have played out. I will say this to those angry at the coaching staff, we no longer are a joke as we were under skinny jeans. We are a competitive football team. Have we made the leap into the next tier (top 20), no I don't believe we have but we can win any game but also lose any game where our best isn't given. I'm happy with the progression in year 2 under Key even though I'm tremendously disappointed in the Cuse & Ville games.
In the end, I got to spend a quality weekend with my son, who is in high school and we had a blast.
Kid wants to go to Tech to be an engineer and then to the Air Force so it was fun watching what I believe he will be doing long into the future. He gave it right back to the Ville fans. We had a blast!
Country side of Kentucky is beautiful. Great road trip.
Anyhow, Go crush Duke and we'll be 4-2 which I think we will do. This bye comes at the right time!
Go Jackets!!!
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